I think the "last" Metroid Prime is the most interesting game in the Wii line-up, because it's a normal game with Wii controls. Take a look at the videos of it on this website (I recommend gameplay video 1), and you'll see what I mean.

Don't let the montage movies fool you: you don't jump up and down to use morphball bombs, and you don't need to jump around from behind corners to go on a shooting spree in-game. The only things you control with motion sensing are the grapple beam, aiming and special door locks.

I think what Nintendo (or rather Retro Studios) are trying to appeal to FPS fans by making it relatively easy to aim with the Wii-mote - because pretty much all critics moaned at the first two Primes for its horrible aiming system - and also not going too far with the motion sensing thing so gamers don't find it too hard to play. It's not as innovative as Red Steel, say, with the player rotating the controller to determine how the gun is held in-game, but it's a departure from the other Primes and most FPSs.

Gone are the days when you couldn't move and aim at the same time without difficulty, and maybe even the days when Metroid was unpopular... For Metroid fans, like myself, I hope they'll allow you to use the classic controller mainly used for the Virtual Console, because some people would prefer to control games normally.

I would prefer the normal control system, as I wouldn't be able to move my arms in the correct way to aim or whatever. In fact, i've noticed that Nintendo seem to have accomodated for all types of gamer, except for disabled ones like myself. If it will only be possible to control games via motion sensing, I'll be less inclined to buy the console (though I think the Virtual Console is incentive enough), and will stick to PS3, which I'd be perfectly happy doing once they halve the price. So let's just hope Metroid will be able to be controlled normally then, as that's one of the games i'll definitely be getting for the Wii.

I'm kinda worried about if they break too much from Metroid conventions - they seemed to muck up the near-perfect balance of shooting and adventuring in Prime 2 in favor of shooting (way too many annoying encounters), and Prime 3 is making you go from planet to planet, rather than creating one large world like all previous titles.

Still, it should be a great game even if it fails to live up to 1, and I may just be a cranky fanboy who doesn't want things to change ever. Still though,t his is a change to something more mundane, while changes from games like CT to CC and BoFI-IV to V were largely unorthodox.

Luckily it kind of looks like the lock-on targeting system is still there (I can't tell for sure) because I liked it. The lack of being able to lock-on to an enemy in Metroid Prime: Hunters is what killed the game for me because the stylus just didn't get the job done. I do think using the Wiimote will be a much better option than the stylus, but the lock-on is something I hope reappears.

As for the game, I'm worried it will place more emphasis on run-and-gun shooting rather than platforming and exploration in order to appeal to the more mainstream FPS crowd. So far Retro hasn't let me down in this regard, but with the new motion-sensing controller acting like a computer mouse I could easily see the game becoming another generic FPS.

I'm also concerned about the world hopping because I didn't enjoy having to do that in Hunters either. But this is just personal preference; I want my underground catacombs :(

Luckily it kind of looks like the lock-on targeting system is still there (I can't tell for sure) because I liked it. The lack of being able to lock-on to an enemy in Metroid Prime: Hunters is what killed the game for me because the stylus just didn't get the job done. I do think using the Wiimote will be a much better option than the stylus, but the lock-on is something I hope reappears.

Yes, but enemies will apparantly be able to easily break it now. So you're going to be screwed into having to point around sometimes. But I think the Wiimote will probably work better then some stylus.

I'm also concerned about the world hopping because I didn't enjoy having to do that in Hunters either. But this is just personal preference; I want my underground catacombs :(

I think the exploration bits were what made the old Metroid games, and a lot of those were ditched in Prime - the only reason they had such long corridors was for loading times and to add to atmosphere before shooting bits, I think. As you say, world-hopping ain't exactly fun, cuz it means theres no actual exploration, and in Hunters you did a lot of shooting and escaping before the planets self-destructed. Let's hope they put several different areas on each planet, so there will be at least some exploration...

Still, it should be a great game even if it fails to live up to 1, and I may just be a cranky fanboy who doesn't want things to change ever.

I am a cranky fanboy and I agree with you. In fact, I think that no Metroid game since Super Metroid has ever matched its ultimate Metroid brilliance. You can't really compare the Primes to it, in my opinion, as they're fundamentally completely different - well apart from the exploration and shooting elements.

I'm pleased to see though that this Prime game has the 3rd game's ability to turn on and off powerups at will, and thus the ability to combine beam weapons - this feature should have been in Fusion and Zero Mission, I think. I thought this was one of the best things about that game, as it allowed those secret moves, such as the plasma bomb and crystal flash, and also the ability to have, say, three separate lines of ice beam, which looked rather cool. And also Corruption has the "proper" wave beam, rather than that electric nonsense from Prime.

Edit: someone at Nintendo needs to be reminded that Metroid is not a first-person shooter and be told to put those damn underground catacombs back in. Also, how exactly is world-hopping different from elavators between areas? It may need to be sorted out, i.e. put a bit more effort into the design of each "level", but essentially it's no different - it also makes more sense as to explaining why each area is so different. There was one game where world-hopping was implemented perfectly: Rare's Jet Force Gemini on N64. If Prime 3's world hopping was like that, then it'd be OK.

I think I might be more inclined to play Metroid Prime 3 than I was to play 1 and 2. One of the things I loved about Super Metroid was how shooting things was fun and easy and felt very natural, even while jumping. The first person perspective just kind of threw off the shooting because of how hard it was to aim at anything! Also, I hated how you couldn't see things behind you.

To be honest with you, I think Metroid Prime games would have been a lot better if they gave you the option to view the game in First person mode or Floating Third Person mode. On the Wii, aiming would be the same, just point and shoot and Samus shoots where you aim (in third person mode). I like Third person a lot better anyways.

I greatly enjoyed the first one, and I am right now playing the second game - also great.I love the whole solitude feeling of it, adventuring and exploring planets at your own, feeling which is greatly enhanced by the amazing soundtrack. I agree the action sometimes gets a bit annoying and awkward due to controls and some other issues, but I enjoy it nonetheless.I am DLing the gameplay video right now.

Apparently this will be Ridley's "last" appearance in a Metroid game, even though hes only actually been in 2 of them before - Meta Ridley in Prime

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was some poor bastard they altered to look like him

, and Metroid 1 and Zero Mission are the same game, so its only the first and third games he's been in. I think Super Metroid is his last appearance, as

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his corpse is seen in Fusion, and is taken over by X parasites - that game is after 3 because it mentions that the Metroid larva had already saved Samus' life.

I think the Prime games are set between Metroid 1 and 2 a) because

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the planets Zebes and SR388 are still there on the Pirates' map of the Talon system - they were blown up in Super Metroid and Fusion respectively

b) because the suit Samus is wearing underneath her power suit in the second-best ending of Prime 2 is exactly the same as the one in Zero Mission - for some reason she seems to get rid of it in Metroid 2, 3 and 4 (Return of Samus, Super and Fusion), wearing nothing more than a bikini underneath the Power Suit in the best endings of those games

c) because

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the space pirates are still around - presumably they were defeated after their main base (Zebes) was destroyed and Mother Brain properly dead at the end of Super Metroid.

And before anyone says the Metroid games don't follow on from each other, they do make references to things that have happened in previous games - unlike Zelda games which are not connected at all (in my opinion at least), but are rather like different retellings of the same legend.

And before anyone says the Metroid games don't follow on from each other, they do make references to things that have happened in previous games - unlike Zelda games which are not connected at all (in my opinion at least), but are rather like different retellings of the same legend.

Actually, what I want to say is that Nintendo kinda already confirmed that the Prime series takes place between 1 and 2. Before Prime came out. :P

This "Hyper Mode" thing in Prime 3 seems rather like the Phazon Beam from Prime. It looks like it activates whenever Samus absorbs a large amount of Phazon, and then slowly runs out over time - like teh Phazon Beam. But what's interesting about it is that if you go on a mad killing rampage with it, the Phazon consumes Samus and she dies. Presumably some enemies will only be able to be killed while in Hyper Mode, like a boss for instance. Hmmm.